One year of maKeIT: A review of the 2023 highlights
Our initiative was launched almost exactly one year ago. We had our goal firmly in mind from the very beginning: We want to promote entrepreneurial thinking and action at KIT and thus contribute to a greater impact of KIT in society and the economy. True to the motto: Let's maKeIT!
We look back on a successful first year with a varied program for students, doctoral candidates, researchers and other KIT employees. 2023 was characterized by various academies, workshops, webinars and information events. Cooperations within and outside KIT played an important role. Examples include the KIT Graduate School "Enabling Net Zero" (ENZo), the Helmholtz Association as sponsor of our Helmholtz Transfer Academies HAFIS (Helmholtz Academy for Intrapreneurship) and InnoSuper (Innovation in Supervising), our partner organizations Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ), Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (GSI), Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZR) in the consortia, Karlsruhe House of Young Scientists (KHYS), the initiative "New Work", Innovation Campus Mobility (ICM) as well as the teams of TRIANGEL open space, KIT-Gründerschmiede and Technology Transfer and Marketing at KIT.
In January, we went online with our maKeIT website as the first digital point of contact for interested parties. We also hosted a webinar on the topic of human-centered innovation / design thinking for around 80 participants in the New Work initiative. We continued to work on our concepts throughout the spring and gradually increased the number of staff in the maKeIT team. In April, the Helmholtz Association's Transfer Office invited us to the kick-off for all Helmholtz Transfer Academies it funds in Berlin. We were there with InnoSuper and HAFIS.
We then really got the word out about maKeIT for the first time at the two major events "TIL - Today I learned" and "Bridge the Gap": we presented our overarching vision and the two academies to a larger audience of KIT researchers. The feedback was very positive, which motivated us to step on the gas even more in the following months!
In cooperation with KHYS and the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Technology Management (EnTechnon), we held the "From Research to Start-up" workshop for researchers. This offer will be continued in 2024 under a new name! Take a look at the KHYS website or the Events & Workshops section here on our website
This was followed in the second half of the year by various workshops as part of the Intrapreneurship Accelerator of the Innovation Campus Mobility of the Future (ICM), design thinking training as part of the New Work Day at the ZEISS Innovation Hub and the conclusion of our Academy pilot project with the ENZo graduate school.
HAFIS then entered the hot phase in the fall. First, the cross-center website hafis.info was launched in September, where you can always find the latest information about the Academy and the application cycle. In November, we welcomed the first HAFIS participants to the kick-off at TRIANGEL. Over the course of two workshop days, we were able to develop exciting ideas with researchers from all centers and a wide range of disciplines and promote exchange between them. The first power-up also took place in December. In 2024, we will then gradually work with the teams to materialize their ideas into concrete projects. We are already looking forward to accompanying the researchers on this journey.
Our second InnoSuper Academy is also picking up speed. The conceptual preparations are entering the final phase and we will provide you with concrete information on this offer for operationally supervising researchers at the beginning of 2024. But first, it's time for us to take a few days' rest, recharge our batteries and then hit the ground running again in the new year.
We wish you a Merry Christmas and look forward to seeing you again in the New Year!